#chess traps

This is for the Ponziani Opening, so you already know some hijinks are going to be afoot, and specifically, this is for the Jaenisch Counterattack. Obviously I can't have pictures for every position, but I'll put them in for the ones that matter.

It goes as follows:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.d4 Nxe4 5.d5 Ne7 6.Nxe5 (pictured below)

Now, if you're a fan of the Ponziani, you know that 6...d6 is a losing move because of the brilliant 7.Bb5+ and the gobbling up of pawns and eventual loss of the knight on e5 by Black. But, what I'm going to show you stems from the slightly better move 6...c6. The idea, in short, is going to be to use the light-squared bishop to defend d5, trade it off for a knight, and then enter a position where you're down material but still have a winning chance.

6...c6 7.Bc4 Nd6 8.O-O Nxc4 9.Nxc4

Now, as you can see, Black has two different attackers on the pawn on d5. If Black plays, 9...Nxd5, then you don't get to do the trap, but you can play

10.Re1+ Be7 11.Nd6+ Kf8 12.c4 Bxd6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Qxd5

and now you have taken away Black's ability to castle, and even though you're down a pawn, you have the open e-file, your bishop has a short diagonal, your knight is ready to leap into action, and Black's kind of just sitting on their hands in terms of development.

But, here's the hysterical part. Remember when I said Black had two things attacking d5 all the way back on turn 9? If they chose to not play 9...Nxd5, then this happens.

9...cxd5?? 10.Nd6#!

Random chess diversion. This is a famous trap that a surprising number of players still fall into because the best move for white is shocking.

Nxe5. It looks like white has blundered away the Queen. It's best if black takes the Knight . . . most don't.

Another Chess trap! This one is pretty famous due to International Master Eric Rosen. It comes out of his favorite gambit, the Stafford.

Stafford is just good for White (there's a very educational Daniel Naroditsky video explaining why). However, Bg5 is an easy to make blunder and it gives Black an amazing resource.

Free queen?

Chess trap o'clock.

This is a very common trap that shows up in a lot of positions, so it's integral to learn. The most common place I see it pop up is out of the Ruy Lopez.

If Black tries to kick the bishop with h6, White trades off the light-squared bishop for Black's knight, Black takes back with the d-pawn, White castles, Black pins the knight with Bg4, and White attempts kick the bishop with h3 . . . we end up here:

It seems like a lot, but those are all very logical moves. It's now Black's opportunity to set the trap with a very clever move, h5.

It's called the Fishing Pole because that bishop is bait, White should not take it. White's best move is to free up the dark-squared bishop with d3. If White takes the bait, Black takes back and that seemingly leaves the e-pawn free for the taking.

All Black has to do is play Qh4 and it's forced checkmate.

What happens if White takes the pawn with their knight?